I don't how long we have been practising LAT, but quite some time. Casper who used to be terribly reactive and would turn into a frenzied, lunging, barking mess whenever we saw a cyclist, it was awful. So we use LAT quite a lot, to the point he looks at triggers, then me, and nudges my treat bag. He even stares hard at triggers (before I say anything!) then nudges said treat bag. Well this morning he took it one step further....stared hard at a cyclist, barked...(just in case I hadn't noticed..) then asked for his treat! You can tell he isn't at all bothered by the cyclist...not one bit! hmmmm..... And no...your eyesight is fine..just a bit blurry at the beginning
That's a good question. LAT -( Look at that)....is a technique we adopted to help Casper change his perspective about a trigger, from something which had resulted in extreme anxiety, to something he associates with a positive response. In this case cyclists were the bane of our lives. Poor Casper would lunge and bark. Really lunge to the point I couldn't hold him, which is why I had to use a front and back harness. Mostly though I would just avoid places with cyclists. It was an anxiety led reaction, and probably due to lack of socialisation as a pup. We started off by standing at a distance, and clicking every time Casper glanced at a bike, then a huge treat. It took months and months. Then we added the cue "look at that". Finally, we have got to the point where I don't need to cue Casper all the time, but he wants to make sure that I have noticed him looking at cyclist. So he will stare hard at a cyclist, then nudge my treat bag. Sometimes this is not good enough for him...so there we have it..a stare, then bark, and look at me...sigh. In this instance I was managing three dogs, and Benson had just brought me his ball, Bramble was sitting at my side, and a cyclist rides by.. I think Casper was concerned I didn't catch him looking at the cyclist...
